Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty — Jammie Thomas-Rasset's federal retrial concluded today as a jury found her liable for willful copyright infringement, awarding the record labels nearly $2 million in damages. — A new lawyer, a new jury, and a new trial were not enough to save Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

Google translates Persian — Today, we added Persian (Farsi) to Google Translate. This means you can now translate any text from Persian into English and from English into Persian — whether it's a news story, a website, a blog, an email, a tweet or a Facebook message.

Launching Facebook in Persian — Since the Iranian election last week, people around the world have increasingly been sharing news and information on Facebook about the results and its aftermath. Much of the content created and shared has been in Persian—the native language of Iran …

Microsoft: There Will Be “No New Console” — Today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated that the company would be releasing a new Xbox 360 in 2010, one featuring a built-in camera. That seemingly confirmed a new hardware configuration with the company's Project Natal built-in. Microsoft's official word?

To clarify what Steve said earlier today.... A few people have emailed me regarding something Steve Ballmer said earlier today about a new Xbox coming in 2010. As the Xbox team stated at E3 two weeks ago, we are not even halfway through the current console generation lifecycle and believe Xbox 360 …

Google Flipper Is About To Jump Out Of The Water — Google is about to launch a new Google Labs project it calls Flipper, we've learned. No, it's not a dolphin. As you can see in the screenshot, it looks like the project is a more visual way to read Google News, or to “flip through it,” as it were.

iPhone 3G S fizzles out for global retail — What a difference 18 months makes, eh? The relative short line for today's iPhone 3G S launch at Apple's flagship Regent Street store in London could be attributed to any number of factors: the economy, the steep cost of upgrade for iPhone 3G owners …

Lines form for the new iPhone in New York and Tokyo — Here are two postcards from the front lines of the smartphone wars. — The first, at right, shows three college students from Monclair, N.J. — Matt Dodd, 18, Sam Epstein,18, and Keith Hobin, 19 — huddled under borrowed umbrellas in front of Apple's …

iPhone 3G S: First peek under the hood — What makes the iPhone 3G S tick, and why is it the “fastest iPhone ever,” as Apple claims. Rapid Repair tears down the iPhone in Paris, providing some clues. — First, a quick glance at Apple's claims for the iPhone 3G S. The ad copy …

With Iran crisis, Twitter's youth is over — For Twitter, the past year has been a series of coming-out parties as it jumped further and further into the public eye. But it wasn't until this month's post-election upheaval in Iran that it became really clear: Twitter, you're not in Silicon Valley anymore.

Steve Ballmer Is Making A Bad $10 Billion Bet — Steve Ballmer says he is willing to invest 5%-10% of Microsoft's operating income over the next five years on search. — That's a boatload of money. — Specifically, assuming Microsoft's operating income stays constant (it will likely grow), it's $5.5-$11 billion.

iPhone 3.0 excels at Wi-Fi hotspots — New software makes it easier to log in, especially via AT&T Wi-Fi — Thanks to improvements in the iPhone OS 3.0 software update released Wednesday, connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot with your iPhone or iPod touch should become almost as easy as roaming on the cellular network.

Who's Really Winning the Search Race? — When it comes to growth, it's not Google. — While Google continues to dominate in search market share and volume, social media sites are the only properties showing positive growth, according to comScore's numbers comparing May to April.

New Features on Google Books — Think about how you use a book. You want to read it, sure—but there are a host of other ways for you to interact with the words between the covers. You might want to flip through the pages to find an image. You might want to open right up to the table …

Streamlining the Inbox — People may manage their Inboxes differently, but they all face times when they need to quickly find important messages from friends or stop unwanted messages. We're simplifying the Inbox to make it easier for you to find, read and control your Facebook messages.

Nearby on Your Phone — We've always liked the idea of showing you photos taken in a particular place; for example, here are some photos taken at or near the Flickr 5.25 party. — Today we're bringing that ability to the smartphone mobile site. For those devices that support it …

The Real Lessons From Twitter — In 2006, I was the director of engineering at Odeo, a podcasting startup notable for birthing a side project now known as Twitter. My major contributions were doing the statistical analysis that showed that our podcasting work hadn't amounted to a hill …